The healthcare industry is enormous, and it looks to continue growing in the next few years. In 2020 alone, there were more than 800 million visits to physicians in the US. That’s more than two visits for every man, woman, and child in the country! 

But what do the specific statistics for the industry look like right now? And how will they look in the future? Read on for everything you need to know about healthcare statistics and what they mean!

What Does the Healthcare Industry Look Like Right Now?

Right now, the US has the highest healthcare spending per capita, sitting at just over $12,000 per person. Of all of those costs, hospital care was a big portion, totaling just over $1 trillion.

As you might expect, the COVID-19 pandemic has transformed the healthcare landscape. One of the biggest changes has been the rapid shift to more digital and online healthcare. 

With this change, Electronic Health Records (EHRs) have become increasingly important. These allow a medical practitioner to share patient information and give patients better care. The EHR industry is already valued at around $28 billion and is expected to grow more in the coming years.

Telehealth is another rapidly growing sector of the healthcare industry. The pandemic saw the numbers jump astronomical amounts from less than one million visits to more than 50 million per year! It’s hard to overemphasize how big a change this was, and how quickly it pushed the industry to provide more online care.

How Will That Change in the Coming Years?

While the healthcare industry was once slow at adopting new practices and services, that has changed in these last couple of years. Now that telehealth has changed from a rare service to a standard feature, the rest of the medical industry is trying to catch up. 

The overall industry is expected to rise from just over $4 trillion to more than $6 trillion by 2028. Some estimates given expect to see the market become an $8 trillion market by 2040. This spending will be driven by pricier technologies, but many places will try to cut their costs through new techniques as well.

For example, cloud-based technology is very expensive, and the industry is expecting to see even more growth in this sector. In 2021, an estimated $16.9 billion was spent on cloud technology, and with its success is coming to an increasing demand in the coming years. Everything from a private medical clinic or private medical practice to a major hospital is looking to start using this new technology.

To reduce costs, many healthcare providers are encouraging monitoring efforts and more efficient care. The internet is helping foster this through Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM), better management and analysis systems, and more connectivity for doctors and staff. 

Healthcare industries are also looking to outsource various tasks and issues to private companies. This will help them save money, time, and effort for their own staff. The future will likely see more outsourcing of issues like credentialing for healthcare providers, data analysis, and inventory management.

Get More Industry Insights

The healthcare industry has been shaken up a lot these last few years. But with these challenges came exciting new approaches to healthcare! Doctors hope to use these approaches to help many more people in the coming years.

If you’d like to learn more statistics about healthcare or other industries, be sure to check out the rest of our blog! We have great articles on a wide variety of topics to help keep you informed and knowledgeable across practically any industry you can think of!

About Author

Nick Jones

See author's posts